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A 



AN 



ADDRESS, 



DKLIVERED BEFORE THE 



ARCHiEAN SOCIETY 



ELOIT COLLEGE, 



AT ITS ANNIVERSARY 



JULY 13, 1858. 



BY CARL SCHURZ 



j BELOIT: 

B. E. HALE AND COMPANY, PUBLISHEES. 

1858. 






B. E. Hale iSr Company. — Cijlmder Steam Press. 



Beloit College, July 14th, 1858. 
Hon. Carl Schurz : 

Dear Sie : We take pleasure in transmitting to you a Resolution of 
the Archaean Society, adopted at a special meeting held this evening, 
expressing their estimation of your Address, last evening, and requesting 
a copy of it for publication ; and we hope it will be your pleasure to com- 
ply with the request. 

"Resolved, That we regard the Address delivered by Hon. Carl Schurz 
before this Society, on Tuesday evening, July 13th, as a profound and 
valuable Discourse upon the prominent features of " Americanism ;" and 
considering it the result of the maturest thinking upon our Institutions of 
one whose education and experience in a foreign country render his opin- 
ions of peculiar value, we feel greatly indebted to him for the honor and 
profit of its delivery before the Society. Believing that its publication 
would gratify both those who heard it and many who did not, we re- 
spectfully solicit a copy of it for this purpose." 

Yours, with much Respect, 

HORATIO PRATT, 

J. H. EDWARDS, 

Committee. 



Watertowx, July 24th, 1858. 
Messrs. Horatio Pratt, J. H. Edwards, Committee : 

Gentlemen — The flattering terms in which the Resolution passed 
by the Archcean Society, speaks of my discourse, however gratifving and 
encouraging' they must be to me, cannot make me forget how little I was 
able to do justice to the grand subject on which I had the honor to ad- 
dress so distinguished and indulgent an audience. The narrow space of 
a single Address did not permit me to offer you more than a desultory 
sketch of a multitude of topics, each of which is so comprehensive and 
so deserving of elaborate exposition. I intended, therefore, to remodel 
the whole, and to complete my remarks upon several branches of the 
subject before off'ering the manuscript for publication. But as your letter 
and those of other esteemed friends led me to believe that the Address 
is desired to be published as it was delivered, I send it to you in its origi- 
nal form. If it should succeed in kindling and nourishing in some of its 
readers a clear consciousness of the great mission of this country, I shall 
deem myself amply rewarded, 

Yours Truly, 

C. SCHURZ. 



AMERICANISM. 



If for the purpose of selecting a subject for this Address I 
had descended into the pyramids of Egypt, or the classical ruins 
of Athens, or the catacombs of Rome, I would perhaps have 
better conformed to established customs ; and I Avould, certainly, 
have imposed a much easier task upon my very limited abilities. 
For I consider it less difficult to treat of a matter of mere his- 
torical knowledge, or of mere literary interest, than to speak, 
with the impartial calmness of a scientific disquisition, of living 
things — of ideas which daily move our hearts and inspire our 
thoughts. But I have chosen this task, not as though the treas- 
ures of antiquity had no charms for me, but because, Avhen study- 
ing the past, I cannot abstain from drawing conclusions on the 
present; and when thinking of by-gone generations, I instinct- 
ively calculate their value for that world of ours, in whose veins 
the warm blood of life is still flowing. 

Our age is the Era of Results. It harvests the crops sown 
in by-gone centuries : it investigates the principles which have 
ruled the world from the beginning, applies them to given 
matter and creates new things by combination. It discovers, 
anew, theories which have long lain idle, and introduces them 
into practical existence. It holds abstractions in its powerful 
grasp, and transforms them into living realities. The time is 
past, when a man would consider it his calling to retire into the 
dead tranquillity of monasterial seclusion in order to brood over 
miisty manuscripts, merely for the sake of amusing his mind by 
a contact with things that have ceased to be. Wo, in vi'hatever 
we do, want to feel the touch of the warm hand of actual life. 



6 GAEL SCHUEZ' ADDEESS. 

To be useful, is the great motive idea in all our pursuits, both 
ideal and material ; and into the service of this universal ten- 
dency we press, not only the strength of our own arms, and the 
activity of our own brains, but all the results of history, from 
the facts and discoveries and inventions of the day just past, 
lip to the remotest historical recollections of the human race. 
With us, science has ceased to be a mere amusement of the 
mind : after its results we measure its value. History does 
more than merely enliven our imagination with incidents and 
scenes : it is more to us than a series of anecdotes. Its results 
determine to us its importance. 

I intend to speak of America as the great representative of 
the spirit of this age. And when I use the word Americanism, 
I do not mean th&t narrow and poor policy which certain men 
apply to certain political questions, but the ideal nature of 
this country, of this people, and of their institutions. 

It is one of the earliest recollections of my boyhood, that one 

summer night our whole village was astir in consequence of 

an uncommon occurrence. I say our village, for I was born in 

a small hamlet not far from that beautiful spot where the Rhine 

rolls his green waters out of the wonderful gate of the Seven 

Mountains and meanders with majestic tranquility through one 

of the most glorious valleys of the world. That night our 

neighbors were pressing around a few wagons, covered with 

linen sheets and loaded with household utensils and boxes and 

trunks, to their utmost capacity. One of our neighboring fam. 

ilics were moving far away across a great water, and it was said 

that they would never again return. And I saw silent tears 

trickling down weather-beaten cheeks, and the hands of rough 

peasants firmly pressing each other, and some of the men 

and women hardly able to speak when they nodded to one 

another a last farewell. At last, the train got into motion ; 

they gave three cheers for America, and then, in the first gray 

dawn of the morning I saw them wending their way over the 

hill until they disappeared in the shadow of the forest. And 

I heard many a man say, how happy he would be if he was able 

to go with them to that great and free, new country. That was 

the first time I heard of America, and my childish imagination 



CAEL SCHURZ ADDRESS. 7 

took possession of a land covered, partly with majestic trees, 
partly with flowery prairies, immeasurable to the eye, and inter- 
sected with large rivers and broad lakes — a land where every- 
body could do what he thought best, and where nobody was 
poor because everybody was free. And later, when I was old 
enough to read, and descriptions of this country, and books on 
American history fell into my hands, the ofi'spring of my imag- 
ination acquired the colors of reality, and I began to exercise 
my brain with the thought, what man might be and become 
when left perfectly free to himself. And still later, when ripen- 
ing into manhood, I looked up from my school books into the 
stir and bustle of the world, and the trumpet-tones of struggling 
humanity struck my ear and thrilled my heart, and I saw my 
nation shake their chains in order to burst them, and I heard a 
gigantic, universal shout for Liberty rising up to the skies ; and, 
at last, after having struggled manfully and drenched the earth 
of Father-land with the blood of thousands of noble beings, I 
saw that nation crushed down again, not only by overwhelming 
armies, but by the dead weight of customs and institutions, and 
notions, and prejudices, which past centuries had heaped upon 
her shoulders, and which a moment of enthusiasm, however 
sublime, could not destroy — then I consoled an almost despon- 
dent heart with the idea of a youthful people, and of original 
institutions, clearing the way for an untrammeled development 
of the ideal nature of man. Then I turned my eyes instinctively 
across the Atlantic Ocean, and America, and Americanism, as I 
fancied it, became to me the last depository of the hopes of all 
true friends of Humanity. 

I say all this, not as though I indulged in the presumptuous 
delusion, that my personal feelings and experience could be of 
any interest to you, but in order to show you what America is 
to the thousands of thinking men in the old world, who, disap- 
pointed in their fondest hopes, and depressed by the saddest ex- 
perience, cling with their last remnant of confidence in human 
nature to the last spot on earth, Avhere man is free to follow 
the road to attainable perfection, and where, unbiased by the 
disastrous influence of traditional notions, customs and institu- 
tions, he acts on his own responsibility. 



8 CARL SCHUKZ' ADDRESS. 

Judge for yourselves -whether the glorious position in which 
this country was placed, from the beginning, did not justify the 
most exalted expectations. 

Cast a look back upon the time when the first permanent 
settlements were founded upon this continent. While the grand 
reformatory movement of the sixteenth century, with its pro- 
gressive ideas, had plunged, the old world into endless confusion : 
while the very wheel of progress seemed to grind and crush one 
generation after another : while the ideas which concerned the 
highest interests of humanity, seemed to call into their service 
the basest and the most violent passions of the human heart : 
while in all Europe the wars of great principles degenerated 
into wars of general devastation, suddenly a new country opens 
its boundless fields to those great ideas, for the realization of 
which the old world seemed no longer to be wide enough. 

A new continent has been discovered. The grandeur and the 
abundance of its resources bafiie all the eff'orts of human imagi- 
nation. The thin and scattered population of savages that 
inhabit it, try in vain to imiiede the progress of civilized men 
into the unbroken wilderness. The greediness of the gold 
hunting adventurer at first takes possession of the new conquest. 
But his inordinate appetites being disappointed, he gradually 
abandons the field to men in whose hearts the future of the new 
world is sleeping unborn. While the coast of Virginia receives a 
motley immigration, led and ruled by men of ideas and enter- 
prise, the sturdiest champions of principle descend upon the 
stony shores of New England. While the southern colonies 
are settled under the auspices of lordly merchants and proprie- 
taries, original democracy plants its banner upon Plymouth 
Rock. Mercantile speculation, aristocratic ambition, and stern 
virtue, that seeks freedom and nothing but freedom, lead the 
most difierent classes of people — different in origin, habits, 
persuasion and principle — upon the virgin soil, and entrusts to 
them the common task of inaugurating a new era. Nor is the 
privilege of occupying the new land of promise confined to one 
nationality alone. While the Anglo Saxon takes possession of 
New England, Virginia and Pennsylvania, the Frenchmen 
planta his colonies on the soil of French Florida, and the 



CARL SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 9 

interior of the Continent ; the Hollander creates New Nether- 
lands on the banks of the Hudson, the Swede, led there by the 
great mind of Oxcnstiern, occupies the banks of the Delaware, 
the Spaniard maintains himself in Peninsular Florida, and a 
numerous immigration of Germans, who followed the call of 
religious freedom, and of Irishmen, gradually flowing in, scat- 
ters itself over all that vast extent of country. And although 
the Anglo Saxon establishes and maintains his ascendancy, yet 
he does not absorb these different nationalities, the peculiar 
characteristics of which are ready to be blended with his own, 
by the all-assimilating power of freedom. Soon all the social : 
and national elements of the whole civilized world are repre- 
sented in the new land ; every people, every creed, every class of 
society have contributed their shares to the wonderful mixture, 
out of which is to grow the great nation of the new world. 

As they grow, a feeling of their peculiar wants and of their 
increasing strength grows with them, and soon they see, that a 
dependence on the old world will no longer agree with their con- 
ceptional positions and their manifest destiny. The new and 
original elements, which constitute the people of the new world, 
can no longer be clogged by the fetters which bind them to an 
old decrepit order of things. They can no longer submit to rules 
which are not of their own making. They have gradually 
shaken the European dust from their feet, and the fresh breeze 
of the primeval forest has inspired their souls with the proud 
idea of independent progress. Then they begin to think of 
entering the great family of nations as an independent member. 
The natural necessity of Democratic life in the new country 
has exercised an equalizing influence on the different elements 
of the population. The Puritan has not retained all the stern 
asperity of his original character, and the exclusiveness of his 
religious doctrines has gradually given way to the universal 
sway of religious freedom. The cavalier spirit, under whose 
auspices some of the southern colonies were founded, has failed 
in fastening aristocratic institutions, after the European model, 
upon the people of that region. Nationalities and creeds have 
become mingled together, and former differences are merged in 
2 



10 CARL SCHUr's address. 

one great common interest. So they form the design of an 
independent Republic. The sublime excitement of the crisis 
calls great men from the ranks of the people, and all classes of 
population, so different in origin, in belief and customs, join 
hands in the great undertaking. Their natural instinct inspires 
them with a just appreciation of their mission. 

They will found a nation, not in the old traditional sense of 
the word — a nation springing from one family, one tribe, one 
country — but a nation incorporating the vital and vigorous ele- 
ments of all civilized nations on earth ; they will found the 
nation of man. 

They will establish a Republic ; not a Republic of English- 
men alone, or of any other branch of the human family exclu- 
sively ; nor a Republic of Puritans or Episcopalians alone, or 
any other religious denomination exclusively ; nor a Republic 
in which a privileged class of citizens, as in Rome and the 
Italian cities, should have exclusive rights ; they will establish 
the republic of equal rights, the Repuhlic of man. 

They will inaugurate a new political creed, unlike that of the 
Republics of Greece, which confined political rights to a com- 
paratively small number ; unlike that of the Roman Republic, 
whose citizens took pride in oppressing the world ; but a creed 
founded upon the natural right of aJl men to govern themsehes. 

They will inaugurate a new epoch of civilization, unlike that 
of most of the European nations, which is confined to the 
higher classes of society, and leaves the masses far behind ; but 
a civilization which is based upon the principle of human 
equality, and rising from the heart of the people at large, con- 
templates the mental and moral elevation of all men. 

In founding the nation of man, they threw open the gates of 
the Republic to the oppressed of all countries, and invited them 
to join in the great enterprise. 
i y In establishing the Republic of man, they discarded all dis- 
tinctions of nation, creed, and social standing, and based their 
political institutions upon the solid basis of equal rights. 

In guaranteeing the self-government of man, they guarded 
against privileges and the oppressive centralization of power, 



CARL SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 11 

recognized in others the same natural rights they claimed for 
themselves, proclaimed peace to all nations on earth, and laid 
down the leading principles of their foreign policy. 

And thus they based the existence and the future develop- 
ment of this country upon a broad cosmopolitan idea. And 
this cosmopolitan idea is what I call Americanism. It embodies 
the universality of rights, and the universality of progress. It 
embraces the solution of the great problem of the faculty of 
man to be free, and to govern himself. 

Let me say a few words on its different bearings. 

AMERICAN NATIONALITY. 

It is a noticeable fact, in the history of the world, 
that nations, like individuals, seem to have but a limited 
term of life allotted to them, and that, when they have long 
subsisted exclusively ou the resources of their own national 
forces, they gradually lose the original vigor of their character 
and die the death of decrepitude. From time to time, violent, 
irresistible hurricanes sweep over the world, blowing the most 
different elements of the human family together, and the gen- 
eral confusion then becomes the genesis of new eras of civiliza- 
tion. Then the sceptre of empire — the hegemonia — the great 
leadership passes from one people to another ; the young and 
vigorous snatch it from the hands of the old and decrepit. — 
The oldest traditions of the human race speak of such great 
revulsions and general migrations, which became the origin of 
successive periods of progress, in which one people took the 
lead and dragged its neighbors behind, and if we could but 
lift the veil which covers the remotest history of the Asiatic 
nations, we would discover the first scenes and acts of the great 
drama, of which the downfall of the Roman Empire is a por- 
tion. 

Even the greatest people of European antiquity could not 
escape this fate. Greece outlived her glory, and Rome sunk 
down under the ponderous splendor of her vast empire. Then 
the dark forests of the North poured forth a barbarous but vig- 
orous multitude, who trampled into ruins the decrepit civiliza- 



12 CAUL SCHTTEZ' ADDRESS. 

tion of the Roman world, but infused new blood into the veins 
of old Europe, grasped the great ideas of Christianity with a 
bloody but firm hand, and a new period of original progress 
sprang out of the seeming devastation. The German element 
took the helm of history. But in the course of time the de- 
velopment of things arrived at a new turning point. The great 
religious reformation of the sixteenth century, infused the spirit 
of Individualism into the hearts of civilized humanity. But 
continental Europe appeared unable to incorporate the new and 
progressive ideas growing out of that spirit in organic political 
institutions. While the heart of Europe was ravaged by a 
series of religious wars, the Anglo-Saxons of England attempted 
what other nations seemed unable to accomplish. But clinging 
too fast to the traditions of past centuries, they succeeded but 
imperfectly. They failed in separating the Church from the 
State, and in realizing the Cosmopolitan tendency of the new 
principle. Then the time of a new migration was at hand, and 
that migration rolled' its waves towards America. 

The old process repeated itself under new forms, milder and 
more congenial to the humane ideas it represented. It is now 
not a barbarous multitude pouncing upon old and decrepit 
empires — not a violent concussion of tribes, accompanied by all 
the horrors of general devastation ; but we see the vigorous ele- 
ments of all nations peaceably congregating and mingling 
together on virgin soil, on an open field, where the back-wood- 
man's axe is the only battle -hatchet of civilization ; led 
together by the irresistible attraction of free and broad princi- 
ples, undertaking to commence a new Era in the history of the 
world, without first destroying the results of the progress of 
past periods ; undertaking to found a new Cosmopolitan nation, 
without marching over the dead bodies of slain millions. 

Here the Anglo-Saxon, now the leader in the practical move- 
ment, contributes his spirit of independence, of daring enter- 
prise and of indomitable perseverance ; the German, the original 
leader in the movement of ideas, his spirit of inquiry and of 
quick and thoughtful application ; the Irishman, the impulsive 
vivacity of the Celtic race ; and the Frenchman, the Scandina- 
vian, the Hollander, the Italian, the Spaniard, the Scotchman, 



\ 



CAKL SCHITEZ' ADDRESS. 13 

all offer their national peculiarities to that collective nationality, 
Avhich is to blend the vital qualities of all nations to one great 
harmony, and which by crossing them with all others, is to 
preserve them in youthful vigor. 

And thus was founded the great colony of free humanity, 
which has not old England alone, but tlie loorld, for its mother 
country. 

That selfishness and narrow ambition should often lead the 
minds of individuals to misunderstand great ideas, and to mis- 
take great ends, is a thing of too common occurrence to be 
astonishing. The destinies of men are often greater than men 
themselves, and a good many are swerving from the path of 
glory by not obeying the true iiistincts of their nature.' The I 
Anglo-Saxon may justly take pride in the growth and develop- ' 
ment of this country, and if he ascribes most of it to the 
undaunted spirit of his race, we may not accuse him of over- 
weening self-glorification. He possesses, in an eminent degree, 
the enviable talent of acting, when others only think : of 
promptly executing his own ideas, and of appropriating the 
ideas of other people to his own use. There is no other race, 
that would at so early a day have founded the stern democracy 
of the Plymouth settlement ; no other race that woxild have 
stood the trials and defied the hardships of the original settlers' 
life so victoriously as this. No other nationality, perhaps, 
possesses in so high a degree not only the daring spirit of inde- 
pendent enterprise, but at the same time the stubborn steadfast- 
ness necessary for the final execution of great designs. The 
Anglo-Saxon spirit has been the Locomotive of progress ; but 
let us never forget, that this locomotive would be of but little 
use to the world, if it refused to draw its train on the iron high- 
way, and carry its valuable freight towards its destination. — , 
That train consists of the vigorous elements of all nations ; that ' 
freight is the vital ideas of our age, and that destination is 
\miversal freedom, and the ideal development of man. 

The ambition of those who want to see a purely Anglo- 
Saxon empire established on this continent, falls short of the 
greatness of this country's destiny. It originated in a, perhaps, 
pardonable pride, basing exclusive claims upon the exploits of a 



14 CAKL SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 

noble ancestry. But it lowers those exploits by stripping them 
of their noblest tendency — their Cosmopolitan bearing. It 
reclines supinely upon past glory, unmindful of a more glorious 
future. Satisfied that the Anglo-Saxon spirit has commenced 
one of the greatest enterprises the world ever witnessed, it 
seems inclined to disregard the greatest part of its mission — to 
be mainly instrumental in completing the success of the under- 
taking. 

Besides, this exclusive ambition comes too late. The natural 
development of things has overridden its narrow tendency. — 
The nation of man has thrown roots in the virgin soil of the 
new world in spite of it. What do you call an American 
now-a--d,iys ? How many of the thirty millions inhabiting this 
Republic; how many even of those who can trace their ances- 
try even to the original settlements of New England or Virginia, 
can analyze the blood in their veins, without finding a German 
or Irish or Hollandish or French or Scandinavian drop in it r — 
And what may be said of the blood is no less applicable to the 
character. Before long, the only pure Anglo-Saxons will be 
those who have most recently come over from Old England, 
and I do not know whether you would be inclined to call them, 
unqualifiedly, the best and purest Americans. 

In the face of the great Cosmopolitan mission of this country, 
this exclusive pride of Anglo-Saxondom dwindles down to the 
small dimensions of silly aristocratism ; for, basing its claims 
upon things done by others, it has nothing of that moral aristo- 
cracy, which derives its right from accumulated and daily accu- 
mulating personal merit. No true American can nourish it, for 
no man who understands the true greatness of the Anglo-Saxon 
race can have invented it. It is unproductive of anything that 
is great. It has borne nothing but barren prejudices, which rise 
and go down with the individuals who cherish them. 

But now look at that glorious valley which stretches from 
the western slope of the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains ; 
that valley of Jehosaphat, where nations assemble in order to 
celebrate the resurrection of human freedom. Has the world 
ever seen such a peaceable mingling of the most heterogeneous 
elements of population, the most different customs and Ian- 



CABL SCHUEZ' ADDRESS. 15 

guages ! And yet, is not this motley crowd bound firmly 
together by the all-assimilating power of Liberty, and by the 
instinctive consciousness of great common interests ? Is not 
this a people more vigorous than all others ? Is not this a 
nation, the nation of man ? Have they not created the freest, 
the happiest, and the most prosperous states on the face of the 
earth? There is the product ircness of the Cesmopolitan idea, 
upon which the existence of the American nation rests, in all 
the glory of reality. There is the colony of free humanity, 
whose mother-country is the world, in the splendor of its 
efficiency. By its fruits you shall know it. 

This is what I call Americanism in a national point of view. 

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 

The nation of man being founded, it was to be organized as 
the Republic of man. 

The fathers of this Republic, when cutting loose from Great 
Britain, justified their action by declaring that "all men are 
created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness." From this general principle they de- 
rived their claim to Independence, and on the foundation of this 
principle they built up the institutions of this Republic. The 
whole structure was to be the living incarnation of this idea. 

It has been used as a standing argument against a democratic 
organization of society, that, whatever its seeming blessings and 
beauties may be, it is always short-lived ; that it lacks stability. 
1 have heard grave savants make this assertion, trying to prove 
its truth by reference to the Republics of Antiquity. A 
people, they say, may indulge in this brilliant delusion for some- 
time, but soon one class of society will wage war against 
another ; the unruly and ignorant elements of the population 
will disturb the harmony of democratic life, and despotism will 
grow out of popular leadership. This is not without a sem- 
blance of truth. But they forget, that the Republics of Anti- 
quity, although containing elements of Democracy, contained at 
the same time the elements of oppression ; by according privi- 



16 CARL SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 

leges to one class of society, they led the other class upon the 
path of turbulent and rebellious opposition ; they recognized 
and guaranteed the rights of the citizen, at the same time disre- 
garding and leaving unprotected the natural rights of man : 
their doctrine of rights was not founded upon the basis of 
universal reciprocity. Their citizenship was not a natural right, 
but a privilege. What the citizen of Rome claimed for himself, 
he did not respect in others ; his own greatness was his only 
object ; his own Liberty, as he looked at it, gave him the right 
and the power to oppress his fellow beings. His democracy, 
instead of elevating mankindjMits own level, trampled upon 
the rights of man. And so itJpR-e in itself the germs of self- 
destruction. J0 

The American Republic 'was the first which was founded 
upon the broad doctrine, that not the citizens of a certain limited 
political organization alone, but all men were created free and 
equal. The Fathers of this Republic, in laying down this doc- 
trine as the very foundation of their political creed, built up the 
institutions of this country upon the basis of an universal princi- 
ple, which is the most progressive and at the same time the 
most conservative one. The most progressive, for it takes even 
the lowest members of the human family out of their degrada- 
tion, and inspires them with the elevating consciousness of equal 
human dignity. The most conservative, for it makes a common 
cause out of individual rights. From the equality of rights 
springs the identity of the highest interests ; and from this 
identity a strict solidarity of all members of the body politic. 
When the rights of one cannot be infringed without a violation 
of the rights of all others, the rights of all are safe against indi- 
vidual usurpation. General solidarity of interests is the only 
thing that can guarantee the stability of democratic institutions. 
Equality of rights embodied in gen.eral self-government, is the 
great moral clement of true democracy, and the only reliable 
safety-valve in the machinery of modern society. 

It is astonishing that influential politicians of this country 
should have been willing to sacrifice this great principle to 
ephemeral expediency. Undoubtedly, even the best of human 
institutions have their local and temporary difficulties and in- 



CAKL SCHUKZ' ADDKESS. 17 

conveniencies connected with them ; hut true wisdom and 
statesmanship will never lose sight of fundamental principles, 
when passing abuses are to be corrected. 

For the sake of argument let us admit that a majority of 
foreign emigrants are not as capable to take part in the govern- 
ment of this country as the man who was fortunate enough to 
drink the milk of Liberty in his cradle ; and that certain reli- 
gious denominations nourish principles which are hardly conso- 
nant with the doctrines of true democracy: — let us admit that 
the origin of the so-called " American movement" is not to be 
found in passion and wmton prejudice alone, but in the sincere 
opinion, that the influence exercised on our political life by the 
foreign po})ulation and certain religious sects, is detrimental to 
the efficient working of democratic institutions, and that in order 
to paralyze this dangerous influence, it would be advisable to 
strip them of their political rights : — i^iew all this from the side 
of its most captivating plausibility, and what will, in your opin- 
ion, be the true American solution of this dilemma ? 

The problem involves two questions — one of principle, and 
one of policy. 

As to the first, I can do no better than quote the language of 
one of the truest Americans I ever met with — one of Nature's 
noblemen : I mean Gerrit Smith — a man whose opinions I 
would honor, even when questioning their correctness, for I feel 
like uncovering my head to the purity of his intentions. He 
says : 

" Citizenship, like voting, is a natural right ; and hence, all 
who assume to create it are guilty of supplanting the claims of 
nature with their own uncalled for creations. They who make 
the right of voting in our country turn on a certain amount of 
learning, or on several years personal acquaintance with our In- 
stitutions, give but too much countenance to those who make 
the color of the skin a disqualification for voting or for citizen- 
ship. In both cases principle is violated, and a precedent is set 
for further and indefinite violations of natural rights. Too long 
have the people consented to receive as franchises, what is inhe- 
rent and God-given. Resolving natural rights into privileges 
has, in every age of the world, been a trick of tyrants. When 



18 CABI. SCHUEZ' ADDEESS. 

the emigrant has afforded sufficient proof of making America his 
home, Government is not to make him a voter, but simply to 
recognize him as such. In whatever country a man has his 
home, there has he a natural right to citizenship, and to the 
ballot-box, and to the soil also : just as natural as to life, and 
light, and air. Despotism will continue on earth as long as the 
people consent to surrender their natural rights in exchange 
to grants from government." 

These are the words of an American, inspired by the true 
dignity of American citizenship. They deserve to be inscribed 
on the gate-posts of this Republic. 

So much for the question of principle. As to the question 
of policy, I have been taught by history, and by personal expe- 
rience, that nothing which is wrong in principle can be right in 
practice. A violation of natural rights can never serve to main- 
tain institutions which are founded upon natural rights. 

If it is true that solidarity of interests among the inhabitants 
of a Republic is the most reliable safeguard of democratic 
institutions, and that this solidarity is impossible without equal- 
ity of rights, you have but to disfranchise a portion of the 
people in order to compromise your future by disowning your 
past. Then you will base the instittitions of this country upon 
a difference of rights, between different classes of people. — 
Refusing to acknowledge the right to vote in the foreign-born 
population as a natural right, you confer it upon the native as 
a privilege ; for natural rights must he general, or they cannot 
be natural. 

And thus you will subvert the fundamental principles of this 
government. You will create a political aristocracy on one, And 
a political plebs on the other side — a class of governing and of 
governed people. That plebs will be humbled, but they will 
not lose the consciousness of their natural rights ; they will be 
the more aspiring, and unruly the more they are humbled. You 
will create a class of people, who will have a right to revolt, 
because they are stripped of the right to govern themselves. I 
admit, you will be strong enough to keep down all dissatisfac- 
tion, but only by dint of the same means by which dissatisfac- 
tion is kept down in other countries. But then, what have you 



CARL SCHURZ ADDRESS. 



19 



gained ? You will accustom one class of people to rule others, 
and another class of people to submit to the rule of others. — 
Inequality of rights must result in oppression, and oppression 
creates tyrants on one, and slaves on the other side, but no true 
patriots on either. 

Force, instead of right ; privilege, instead of equality, being 
once the leading principles of your policy, you will have no 
power to stem the current. There will be other abuses to be 
corrected, other inconveniences to be remedied, other supposed 
dangers to be obviated, and the disfranchisement of one class of 
people will be used as a welcome precedent for further encroach- 
ments. Having once knowingly disregarded natural rights, the 
ruling parties will soon accustom themselves to consult only 
their interests, where fundamental principles ought to be their 
guide. A policy of expediency will succeed to the government 
of principle, and your democratic institutions will fall into the 
fatal snare of the unscrupulous selfishness of individuals and 
parties. 

Where is the greater danger ? Will you in order to guard 
against the inexperience of the foreign-born voter, and the 
aspirations of the Roman Hierarchy, put the axe to the very 
roots of democratic institutions, to the equality of rights? — 
Will you in order to defend your Liberty, undermine its founda- 
tions with your own hands ? This reminds me of the soldier, 
who for fear of being shot in battle, committed suicide on the 
march. It is that ridiculous policy of despair, which gives up 
the ship, when there is a cloud in the sky. With childish 
petulance, it repudiates the fundamental principle of genuine 
democracy, because the practice of equal rights is distasteful to 
some exquisites. 

How pitiable and poor is this mis-named American policy, in 
comparison to that broad and generous confidence in the 
effitC.ency of true democratic institutions, which led the fathers 
of this Republic to invita all people to the enjoyment of equal 
rights ! They were not ignorant of the difficulties growing out 
of their doctrines, but they believed that true democracy bears 
in itself the remedies for all abuses that may be connected 
vrith it. 



20 CARL SCHURZ ADDRESS. 

It is true, it gives rights to the ignorant, and power to the 
inexperienced but by the very same process it puts the means 
of education within the reach of all. It is an old dodge of the 
advocates of despotism throughout the world, to assert that 
people, who are inexperienced in self-government, are not fit for 
Liberty, and ought to be educated under the rule of others. — 
But at the same time despotism will never offer them an oppor- 
tunity to acquire experience in self-government, lest the people 
might suddenly be fit for liberty. To this treacherous sophistry, 
true Americanism opposes the noble doctrines, that Liberty is 
the best school for Liberty, and that self-government cannot be 
learned but by practising it. There is nothing that makes man 
better understand his interests, both political and private, than 
the independent management of his own affairs, on his own 
responsibility ; and nothing inspires him with a stronger notion 
of his duties, than the enjoyment of the rights from which they 
arise. The atmosphere of Liberty has a wonderful influence 
on the minds of men ; it arouses the legitimate pride of human 
dignity ; it enlarges the heart, it quickens the understanding ; 
and a few years of education in the school of that best of all 
schoolmasters, whose name is self-government, may be sufficient 
to turn the most submissive siibject of an arbitrary government 
into a self-relying and efficient citizen of a Republic, 

Nor have the dangers, which are said to arise from the in- 
h'igues of the Roman Hierarchy, any terrors for me. If it be 
true, that the Roman, or any other Church plants the seeds of 
superstition, it is no less true that Liberty sows broad-cast the 
seeds of truth and enlightenment. Give them a fair struggle, 
and the victory is not doubtful. That victory may be slow, but 
it will be conclusive. And as to religious fanaticism, it may 
prosper under oppression ; it may feed on persecution, but it is 
powerless against genuine democracy. It may indulge in short- 
lived freaks of passion, or in wily intrigues, — but it will die of 
itself, for its lungs are not adapted to breathe the atmosphere of 
equal rights. Drag the shark of the sea into the air, and the 
monster will perhaps struggle fearfully, and frighten you with 
the powerful blows of his tail, and the terrible array of his 
teeth, but you leave him quietly to die, and he will die. But 



CAKL SCirUBz' ADDEESS. 21 

engage with him in a hand to hand strug^jle, even then, and 
the last of his convulsions may fatally punish your rash attempt. 
Against fanaticism, genuine democracy wields an irresistible > i 
weapon ; it is Toleration. Toleration will not strike down the ■? 
fanatic, but it will quietly and gently disarm him. In a demo- 
cratic community it is argument, not force, that governs ; and 
where argimient is the ruling power, there the weapons of 
fanaticism will drop harmless to the ground. But fight fana- 
ticism with fanaticism, and you will restore it to its own 
congenial element. It is like Antaeus, who gained strength 
when touching his native earth. 

Whoever reads the history of this country, calmly and thor- [, 
oughly, cannot but discover, that religious liberty is slowly but j 
steadily rooting out the elements of superstition, and even of; 
prejudice. It has dissolved the wars of sects, to which perse- 
cution was characteristic, into a contest of abstract opinions, 
which creates convictions without oppressing men. By recog- 
nizing perfect freedom of inquiry, it will engeider among men 
of different belief that mutual respect of true convictions, 
which makes inquiry earnest and discussion fair. It will recog- 
nise as supremely inviolable, what Roger Williams, one of the 
most luminous stars in the American sky, called the "sanctity 
of conscience." Then fanaticism will become, not only power- 
less, but ridiculous. Whatever the designs of any clerical 
organization against popular freedom may be, as long as they 
cannot be executed without the co-operation of a large number 
of American freemen, they may keep your vigilance awake, but 
they ought never to betray you into a violation of principles ; 
and political or religious f'-eedom is the only reliable safeguard 
against the preponderance of aspiring clerical organizations. It 
may permit them an outward show of growth, but it will 
loosen their interior consistency. It will turn all attempts at 
usurpation against their authors. 

Before taking leave of this branch of the subject, I am 
obliged to allude to an institution, the very existence of which 
seems to controvert ail I have said of the American doctrine of 
human equality. I mean the institution of slavery. This being 
one of the burning political questions of our day, I would 



22 CARL SCHUKZ' ADDRESS. 

have abstained from calling your attention to it in tliis discourse, 
if the subject did not imperiously demand it. I will confine 
myself to a single remark on this institution. 

If all I have said of the principle of human equality being 
the foundation of our democratic institutions ; being the safety- 
valve in the machinery of modern society ; being the only 
guarantee of the stability of republican government ; if all this 
is true, what influence must an institution have, which creates 
a class of masters, and a class of bondmen, dividing society into 
portions, whose vital interests are at war with each other, and 
putting the interest of the slave-holder above the interest of the 
citizen ? There is a danger, which only blindness cannot see, 
and which only stubborn party prejudice will not see. What- 
ever the fitness or unfitness for self-government of the colored 
man may be, this is not the turning point of the question. — 
The oppressive spirit of the master is no less inconsistent with 
true democracy, than the oppressed spirit of the slave. A 
democratic system of government is certainly strong enough to 
overcome all local and temporary difficulties connected with it, 
but it can bear no inconsistencies in fundamental principles. — 
There is a thing, which stands above the command of the most 
ingenious of politicians : and that is the logic of things and 
events. It cannot be turned and twisted by artificial arrange- 
ments and delusive settlements ; it will go its own natural way 
with the steady step of Fate. It will force you, with uncom- 
promising severity, to choose between two social organizations, 
one of which is founded upon privilege, and the other upon the 
principle of equal rights. It will teach you how essential it is 
in a democratic community, not only that there be no slaves, 
hilt that there he no masters. And it is not hazardous to predict, 
that if the theories engendered by the system of slavery are 
suffered to outgrow the equalizing tendency of true democracy, 
the American Republic will soon meet with the fate of Rome 
and the other Republics of Antiquity. The struggle which is 
going on about that institution, concerns the vitality of our 
democratic system of government, and the decision of that 
struggle wiil decide of the stability of this Republic. 

But I will retract nothing that I have said of the principle 



cjlbl schttbz' adbbess. 33 

of equality being the American doctrine. He has not read, or 
not understood, the proudest pages of American history, who 
denies that the fathers of this Republic intended to have the 
institution of slavery yield to the principle of equality, and he 
heeds very little the signs of our times, who does not see, that 
the most vigorous elements of this Republic are arrayed against 
the pernicious system. 

The battle is fairly engaged. Slavery may be able to win 
delusive victories, but it will never have moral force enough to 
stand a defeat. The first great defeat will be equivalent to a 
total rout. Its army once beaten will be dispersed, and then all 
those who were pressed into its service by interests foreign to 
theirs, will speedily shake off their delusions and join the cause 
which, in the nature of things, is their own. 

I have abiding faith in the original vigor of this people, and 
in no very distant future I see a day coming, Avhen our children 
will ask themselves, not without shame and incredulous aston- 
ishment, how it was possible that the system of slavery should 
have found serious advocates 80 years after the fathers of this 
Republic had built up the glorious institutions of this country, 
upon the basis of human equality. Then there will be no lon- 
ger a man insane enough to quote the Dred Scott decision as a 
correct interpretation of the Declaration of Independence. 



AMERICAN SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

So much for the fundamental principle upon which the Re- // 
public of man w^as founded. The political organization which 
the people gave themselves, corresponded strictly with its lead- 
ing doctrine. The people of the different States of this Repub- 
lic, especially of the Free States, established and developed a 
system of self-government more perfect than in any other 
country on earth, except Switzerland. 

It is one of the essential mistakes of prominent political 
theorists on the European continent, that democracy and self- 
government consist in the power of the people to elect their 
rulers, and in a certain limitation of the executive power 
by the legislative branch of government. This is what they 



24 Ci.KL 8CHURZ' ADDBEgS. 

call the division of power, a thing which may be shaped per- 
fectly consistent with a centralized system of administration. — 
And thus there is for them no contradiction between centraliza- 
tion and democracy. 

The genius of the American people has created a system 
widely different from this. Recognizing the principle of 
equality for all men, the organization of society was to be such 
as to give free play to all legitimate peculiarities. It was not 
the purpose of our political institutions to press man into the 
mould of uniform rules and regulations, but they were intended 
to have elasticity enough to conform to local and individual 
wants and necessities. American self-government, therefore, 
means not merely the faculty of the people to elect their chief- 
magistrates and the legislative branch of government, but it 
means, that all such functions which can be exercised by direct 
and immediate action of the people, be not delegated to agents 
and plenipotentiaries ; that the people he governed as little, and 
govern the7nseh'es^in detail as much, as possible. The division 
of power is, therefore, not confined to a certain mutual limita- 
tion between the executive and legislative branches of govern- 
ment, but it goes down in an organic way from the organization 
of the supreme power to the organization of the meanest body 
politic in the state. 

Some of the most prominent political writers of our days 
have discovered great dangers to political freedom in the 
equality of all citizens, believing, that equality produces a tcn- 
dejicy for centralization. This may be the case in such coun- 
tries where there is the spirit of equality luilhout the spirit of 
self-government. There the governmental power, which, 
although springing from the people, retains a great amount of 
independence, is regarded with a certain superstitious awe. — 
Seeing almost all political action issuing from the central gov- 
ernment, people there arc apt to delude themselves with the 
belief, that government can do and accomplish everything, and 
thus, addressing all their behests to, and expecting the redress 
of all their grievances from, that mysterious source of omnipo- 
tence : they are rather willing to strengthen than to weaken it. 

But in this country the greatest things have sprung from 



CAUL SCHTJEZ' ADDSESS. 25 

independent individual action. Man relies upon himself, and 
all he wants government to do, is, to guarantee free scope to his 
individual energy and enterprise. He wants liberty for himself, 
and he will take care of the rest. Thus he stands above gov- 
ernment. Although he is willing to submit to the dictates of the 
majority in their legitimate sphere — that is to Say, in all things 
that cannot be done by independent individual action — he will 
not submit to the tyranny of majorities, which consist in 
encroachments upon individual rights. Against that tyranny, 
the most dangerous in democratic states, he guards by dismem- 
bering and ramifying political power into an infinite number of 
small functions, reserving to local and individual self-govern- 
ment all that can be accomplished by it. 

Besides this, where government springs directly from the will 
of the people, where it changes hands so often, and where the 
people are making and shaping government daily by active 
control, and the most unrelenting criticism, there governments 
care more about what the people say, than people care about 
what the governments do. 

As long as this spirit prevails in this Republic, there will be 
little danger of oppressive centralization. 

The American spirit of self-government, based upon the prin- 7 
ciple of equal rights, does not confine its influence upon the 
working of our home-institutions within the present geograph- 
ical limits of this Republic, but it determines, at the same 
time, the spirit of our foreign policy. The tyrannical tendency 
which lay hidden in the organization of the Roman Republic, 
showed its most hideous features strongest in her foreign policy. 
When that Republic undertook to build up her greatness on 
the despotic supremacy with which it ruled other people, the 
axe was put to the roots of popular liberty in Rome herself. 
To rule and to submit, seems to involve the most irreconcilable 
contradiction. But the effects of either on a people approach 
identity. He who disregards natural, inalienable rights in 
others is ill adapted to maintain them for himself. Despotism 
and oppression have an irresistible re acting tendency. To 
conquer foreign countries, and to hold them in a state of sub- 
jection, would be the first step towards the surrender of our 
41 



26 CARL SCHTJRZ' ADDBESS. 

own independence. The principle of the equal rights of all 
men being the basis of our political and national existence, the 
establishment of a colonial system like that of England or of 
proconsular governments, like those of Rome, would be so 
inconsistent with the spirit of our institutions as to amount to 
suicide. From that time the rightful existence of despotism 
would be admitted, and the original American doctrine that man 
shall govern himself, and that central governments are instituted 
for the only purpose of guaranteeing and organizing self-govern- 
ment, would lose the support of fact. An offensive war will 
therefore always be inconsistent with true Americanism, and the 
only way in which this Republic may aggrandize herself, is, 
either by the spontaneous accession of the people of other 
countries, or by extending aid to other nations who desire to be 
free and independent. If you will call this conquest, then to 
be conquered by the American Republic means nothing but to 
subscribe to the Declaration of Independence. As long as this 
country remains true to that federal system, tvhich is the national 
form of self-government, there will be little danger in expansion 
and aggrandizement. However large it may become, it will be 
nothing else but a vast association of independent men, united 
for the protection of common interests, the principal of which 
is the maintenance of their own liberty. Then the American 
Congress will be in reality, what in Europe the boldest friends 
of humanity dreamed of establishing : the permanent peace- 
Congress of the new world. 

And here let me add a few words on the foreign policy of 
this country, as it is at present situated. Our influence with 
foreign governments does not depend upon the dexterity of our 
diplomatic, nor on the strength of our military and naval 
establishments. It may be justly said, that, as long as the 
American Republic remains true to her orignal democratic 
character, all the despots on earth are her natural enemies and 
all the nations her natural friends. This circumstance suggests 
what the true elements of our strength are. 

Even in most of those countries whose destinies seem to be 
swayed by arbitrary governments, public opinion has become a 
formidable power. It is not controlled by forms laid down in 



CABIi SCHUBZ' ADDEESS. 27 

written constitutions, nor does it shape its course according to 
custom and usage. It springs up right from the heart of the 
intelligent classes of the people, and although its dictates may 
sometimes be disregarded by despotic rulers, yet the struggle 
against it has so often proved disastrous to those in power, that 
even the most tyrannical governments try to propitiate and to 
compromise with it, when they see their inability to control it. 
To commence and to carry on a war without the support of 
public opinion, would be a difficult thing to most European gov- 
ernments. But to commence and to carry on a war in direct 
opposition to the current of public opinion, will hardly be 
attempted by any. Such an attempt sealed the fate of the 
greatest warrior of our times — Napoleon. The enthusiasm of 
his prretorians, the bravest army in the world, could no longer 
sustain him, when the heart of the people had forsaken him. 

There is no nation in Europe that is not constantly endeavor- 
ing to better its condition and aspiring to freedom, even if then 
it does not know how to attain, or when attained, how to pre- 
serve it. It is natural, therefore, that public opinion, springing 
right from the heart of the people, must sympathise with a 
foreign power whose policy is dictated by true liberal principles. 
Hence public opinion in foreign countries will always be our 
natural ally, as long as by faithfulness to true principles we are 
the natural ally of the people — that is to say, true advocates of 
the rights of man. This alliance is based upon reciprocity, and 
if duly cultivated, it will be strong enough to make all serious 
resistance to any just and equitable demands of ours impracti- 
cable, even with such governments whose hatred would rather 
expunge this Republic from the face of the earth. 

To gain and to preserve the confidence and the hearty good 
will of our natural ally, the wily arts of secret diplomacy are 
but little required. People abroad hear, and read, and know a 
little more of us than the sayings, and writings, and doings of 
our diplomatic representatives ; very little that happens in this 
country escapes the eager notice of close observers, and it is not 
always the most favorable side of American life which is most 
ostentatiously spread before the European public. They keep 
track of our development with the attentive eye of interested 



28 CABL SCHXTKr' ADDEES8. 

parties. The supporters of despotism watch us in order to 
show up our failings ; and the people look to us, in order to 
keep alive their faith in democratic institutions. And thus our 
behaviour here, determines public opinion there. The more we 
deviate from true principles in our home policy — the more we 
forfeit the confidence of people abroad, the weaker our foreign 
policy will be. And the better we demonstrate by facts, that 
our splendid theories and professions have risen into bodily 
existence, and that our democracy, from a mere dogmatic ab- 
straction, has become a living reality, the warmer will be the 
friendship of nations for this Republic and the stronger our 
foreign policy. It may be said, therefore, that most of the 
strength of our diplomacy grows here, and that the same things 
which make us free and prosperous at home, make us esteemed 
and formidable abroad. If we are true to ourselves, we are 
true to others, and others will be true to us. Then we shall 
have no need of a numerous hireling soldiery, nor of a costly 
naval establishment ; for we shall keep a standing army right 
in the heart of foreign countries — the most glorious army ever 
heard of: it is the confidence and friendship of nations. This 
is the true strength of American foreign policy, and the states- 
man who would place it upon any other ground, may be justly 
accused of not appreciating the exalted position and the great 
destiny of this country. 

AMERICAN CIVILIZATION. 

The peculiar origin and organization of American society 
cannot fail to bring forth and to develop new features of civ- 
ilization. 

Indeed, the people of this country are placed in a peculiarly 
happy position. No other nation within the recollection of 
mankind was composed of such a variety of vigorous elements 
as this. Never had the component elements of a people such 
free play and unbounded sway as here. Never was man so 
perfectly free of outward pressure, so independent of a foreign 
will, as here. Never had man such an immeasurable field of 
action before hinx : never Ijad he such an opportunity to show to 



CARL SCHUKZ' ADDRESS. ^ 

■what degree of perfection human nature can be developed under 
the fertilizing influence of Liberty. And more than this : for 
thousands of years have the nations of the earth treasured up 
their ideas, their discoveries and inventions, the results of their 
meditation and their scientific and artistical pursuits ; and now, 
unlike the people of Greece and Rome, who in the first centuries 
of their national existence, were narrowed down to the resources 
of their own genius, unlike the German element, which after 
having marched over the ruins of Roman civilization had to 
commence anew, the young American people stands upon the 
highest eminence of the modern age, overlooking like a grand, 
immeasurable panorama the results of past centuries, they have 
only to harvest in order to possess — only to gather in order to 
enjoy. All the nations of the globe come and offer their 
treasures to the cosmopolitan nation, and upon the basis of 
gathered results has America to build up her own civilization. 

And, nevertheless, it is said that the American people have 
failed, so far, to reach that height of mental culture which other 
nations can boast of. And undoubtedly this is true in a great 
many respects ; but it is owing to circumstances which by them- 
selves inspire us with well founded hopes for the future. 

In colonial times American civilization shaped itself as much 
as possible after the model of the mother countries, especially of 
England. Their political connection with the English govern- 
ment necessarily turned the eyes of the people, especially of the 
higher and leading classes, upon English society and produced 
a natural tendency to conform their manners, their social life, 
and their way of thinking to those of the old world. It was 
the ambition of a good many not to be Americans — that is 
colonials — but to be considered English gentlemen. The De- 
claration of Independence, in dissolving the political connection, 
proclaimed at the same time the independent development of 
American civilization. It placed it upon the basis of a free 
cosmopolitan nationality. But this change could not be con- 
summated in a day. The original elements which lay there in 
a more or less crude state, were to be unfolded by time, and 
while gradually shaking off their dependence of English civili- 



30 CABL SCHUKZ' ADDRESS. 

zation, the people of this country could but gradually develop 
new forms to comparative perfection. Thus, having lost the 
peculiar graces of colonial civilization imported from abroad, and 
having had no time yet to develop in a high degree the best 
features of their originality, the American people are in a state 
of transition, which is less pleasing to the eye than it will be 
fertile of results. 

It is a very significant fact, that those of the original settlers 
of this country, who were led here not by a mere spirit of ad- 
venture, nor by the mere greediness of gain, but by their desire 
to be free, succeeded first in shaking oflF their subserviency to 
European customs and manners, and in placing the progress of 
American civilization upon the true ground ; while in those por- 
tions of this country, which were settled by men of a more 
adventurous character, the higher classes of the people clung 
longest to the traditions of European society, and the great 
masses were slowest in moving forward. 

The reasons for this are obvious. 

The Puritans of New England were the sternest champions 
of principle. "When they left the old world, the mercenary 
motives of selfishness had no share in their desire to change 
their condition. They sought, and they found, upon the rocky 
shores of New England nothing but a place where they could 
freely " worship God according to the dictates of their con- 
sciences," and where they could conform their social condition to 
their religious belief. The "salvation of their souls" was their 
highest object, and to the elevation of the mind they devot- 
ed their most anxious care. From this fountain sprang their 
zealous endeavors to organise popular education. They were 
the first to establish a system of public schools, the first who 
"thought upon a college." 

I have often heard it asserted, that popular education could 
not thrive under the influence of a religious spirit, because 
religion limited the freedom of inquiry. Those who say so, 
mistake religion for the policy of such clerical organization, 
which have identified their high spiritual office with the aspira- 
tions of wordly ambition and material interests. This is a con- 
fusion of ideas. 



CABL SCHITEZ' ADDRESS. 31" 

He who has read history will not deny, that all original 
attempts at systematic popular education proceeded from the 
religious instincts of man. In all countries and in all ages, 
philosophy, in the broadest sense of the term, meaning not only 
the transcendental and metaphysical speculations of individuals, 
but also the formation of religious sentiments and ideas into 
doctrines and dogmas, took upon itself the task to enlighten 
mankind on the highest interests of the human soul. The 
necessities of life were the first practical, and religion the first 
theoretical school of man. 

On the other hand, it cannot be denied, that when hierarchical 
organizations grew out of religious schools, and wordly interests 
and aspirations corrupted their spiritual cares, and the desire to 
rule supplanted the desire to enlighten, and speculating hyprocisy 
took the place of true devotion resting upon sincere convictions, 
the name of religion was often used as a snare in which not 
only the conscience but also the intellect of the masses was held 
captive. The policy of such clerical organizations was very 
similar to the policy of despotic governments. But to ascribe 
their pernicious influence to religion, as such, would be just as 
erroneous as to ascribe the crimes of despotic governments to 
the social wants of man in the abstract. 

It cannot be denied that where religious feelings Avere most 
independent and sincerest, there popular education was most 
zealously cared for. So it was with the Puritans of New 
England. 

We may condemn their fierce intolerance, which sprung from 
suffered persecution, and which gave way to milder feelings as 
soon as it became apparent that they had to fear neither priest- 
craft nor king-craft in this country ; we may or may not agree 
with their religious views ; we may deem the strict sectarian 
exclusiveness of their first educational institutions sadly at 
variance with true democratic principles ; but it cannot be 
denied that their anxious care for popular education was the 
strongest proof of the sincerity of their religious belief. They 
not only had sacrificed the comfort of their homes for their re- 
ligious convictions, but they were so deeply impressed with the 
invincible truth and the progressive character of their doctrines, 



32 CABL SCHTTBZ' ABBBESS. 

that they put them even into the crucible of science for a test. 
Thus, in spite of their own intolerant spirit, they planted the 
seeds of universal toleration. I very well understand the man 
who disagrees with them, but I pity him who does not respect 
them. 

Thus the place that was destined to become the cradle of 
American Independence, became first the cradle of American 
education. 

Here, for the first time in the history of the world, education 
was placed within the reach of all children of the people. This 
\izs the greatest onward stride democracy had ever made, and 
the men who ordered in all the Puritan colonies, "that every 
township after the Lord hath increased them to the number of 
fifty householders, shall appoint one to teach all children to 
write and read ; and where any town shall increase to the num- 
ber of one hundred families, they shall set up a grammar school ; 
the masters thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they 
may be fitted for the university," — the men, I say, who first 
ordered thus, deserve no less honor at the hands of the American 
people than the patriots who signed the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and the heroes who fought the battles of the Revolu- 
tion. They have found the true key to democratic Liberty. 
There may be other means besides popular education to tear 
the sceptre from the hand of a tyrant, but there is no other way 
to place it safely into the hands of the people. 

The establishment of common schools originated that won- 
derful co-operation of self-government and popular education, 
than which there is no more powerful and efficient engine of 
progress. 1 have mentioned the instructing and elevating influ- 
ence of self-government on the masses. But as self-government 
is calculated to turn the results of school education to practical 
account, and to enlarge them by practice and application to given 
objects, so the common schools are necessary to place self-gov- 
ernment upon the basis of knowledge. In order to be what 
they ought to be, neither of them can do without the other. 

This combination of popular education by common schoolsand 
self-government, both common to all, determines the character 
of American civilizatiou. 



CARL SCHUEZ' ADDRESS. 



33 



In th,s country equalify is not limited to the sphere of 
political rights. True, there is a difference in the social condi- 
tion of men; but the untiring activity and energy of the peo- 
ple, that restless spint which shifts from enterprise to enter- 
pnse, the frequent and sudden clianges of fortune, and the total 
absence of all fixed barriers between different classes of society 
lessens the distance between the rich and the poor. True there 
IS a certain difference of habits and manners between the 'popu- 
lation of the cities and of the rural districts; but political 
rights and interests and the means of elementary education being 
common to all, there is comparatively little difference in the 
point of mental culture, except in such States where, unfortu- 
nately, an heterogeneous system ot labor has infused aristocratic 
tendencies into the organization of society. Indeed, there are 
in this country certain small circles which represent the highest 
order of mental culture: but, on the whole, it may be said that 
the people group themselves near a certain line of averac^e • 
neither very much above on one side, nor very much below^n 
the other. In consequence of this, it is true that this country 
IS not adorned with a great number of first class stars in the 
^vJHd of science and literature : that the taste for and culture "''''' 
of fine arts is but poorly developed, and that the American '"'^'^ 
people, even in its wealthier classes, cannot boast of the traces -" '^'' 
of that refinement, which forms the principal charm of the lead-^ ' ^^'''^ 
ing circles of European society. But it is equally true, that "''^ ^^ 
wfiileinmost European countries the privileged classes enjoy ^^'^^''^^ 
he highest culture and leave the masses back at an immeasura-' '^^"^^^^ 
ble distance, in America the whole people move onward ^M''''''^'' 
steady and almost uniform progress, in which but few take" W'' '^"'^ 
Icaa and but few are left behind. In Europe, civilizatiou'^s^^^ '''''' 
dazzling m its results, but it comprehends only individuals'-" ii'^^'^^^^^'^^l 
America, civilization is less briliant but more solid, for /t ^c^"^^ ''''' 
prebends the masses. America, therefore, may have %^'M''' ■'"'' 
men of the highest order of erudition, but at the .^^^M' r'"' '''^' 
has but few of the lowest degree of ignorance. It bUS't^g ''■"' "^ 
Oenied, that these characteristics of American civilizkiaii'lilli^ir^'^'"'''^'' 
the flight of individual genius, as flir as general idl^te^i^^l'' '^ 
cerncd ; for, in order to be useful and appreciated, it must re- 



.;J 



34 CAEL SCHtJEz' ABDEESS. 

main within the reach of the popular understanding ; while, in 
Europe, the ambition of a savant is satisfied when he is under- 
stood by a number of select individuals. It is true that, in this 
country, the loftiest ideas have to wear the homely garb of 
popular language ; but Avhile they appear less brilliant, they 
are certainly more useful. This same circumstance, which 
obliges the most superior minds to make their thoughts intelli- 
gible to the masses, at the same time enlarges the horizon of 
popular education in bringing superior ideas in immediate con- 
tact with the popular mind. In this way even the higher 
branches of learning will gradually come within the reach of ail. 
It has been said that this process will lower the dignity of 
science, and that by becoming subservient to mere practical pur- 
suits, science will be stripped of its true scientific character. 
There is, indeed, no doubt that in being clad in popular forms, 
science is often treated with superficial levity — that profound- 
ness is sacrificed to show, and that sometimes the strangest im- 
positions may be practiced upon the public, who are to a certain 
degree acquainted with the results of science without being able 
to sound its sources. All this is true, and only perfected edu- 
cation can remedy the evil. But what is the true dignity of 
science ? Does it consist in the cloud of mystery which certain 
persons endeavor to throw around her ? Or shall we shut her 
up again in the cells of monasteries: or shall we confine her cul- 
ture to a few privileged individuals and make it unapproachabl e 
to the masses ? Or shall our scientific men be like Archimedes, 
who, as Plutarch tells us, " was of so lofty a spirit that he 
never condescended to write any treatise on the manner of con- 
structing all his engines of offense and defense ; and as he held 
this science of inventing and putting together engines, and all 
arts, generally speaking, which tended to any useful end in 
practice, to be vile, low and mercenary, he spent his talents and 
his studious hours in writing of those things only, whose beauty 
and subtlety had in them no admixture of necessity. If this be 
the true dignity of science, what will become of its usefulness ? 
In my opinion, the dignity of men and things consists in the 
services they render to humanity. 

It is true, that the pursuit of knowledge in this country is 



CAKL SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 35 

largely mixed with motives and impulses foreign to science 
itself. The impatient greediness of gain has pressed it into its 
service and led it in the direction of the application of results, 
rather than in that of the theoretical investigation of causes. 
But the pursuit of gain itself is scientifically productive, and it 
cannot be denied that the people of this country, although defi- 
cient in theoretical knowledge, and slow at abstract studies, 
accomplish, by practical experiments, about as much as other 
people by quiet and abstract meditation. We shall, however, 
in the course of things, come to a point where all will under- 
stand that the practical application of the sciences cannot pro- 
gress in infinitum unless the theories of them are properly cul- 
tivated. 

The preference we give to everything that serves practical 
ends may be carried to excess, and we are liable to neglect those 
pursuits which grace the mind and elevate the heart. I do not 
underrate the strengthening influence of practical occupations on 
the understanding ; but I think that a people who devote their 
undivided attention to material pursuits must, in the course of 
time, become low in tbeir feelings. Dealing always with actu- 
alities, basing all their calculations upon facts as they are, they 
will, by the force of habit, become inclined to forget that a good 
many things are not what they ought to be. The Greeks, when 
calling Hermes at the same time the god of merchants and of 
thieves, showed by this more significant than flattering combi- 
nation, that the influence of mere material pursuits upon the 
human soul was no mystery to them. Commerce and industry, 
and the pursuit of gain in general, although they make men 
prudent and energetic, very seldom develope the nobler instincts 
of the heart. In my opinion, therefore, the stronger loe lean to 
the side of the practical, the more it is necessary that we should 
promote by education the culture of the ideal. In cultivating ' 
the noble and beautiful along with the useful, we shall evade : 
that one-sidedness of character which may make a people for a 
while rich, but not good — powerful, but not great. 

I am well aware that the taste for literature and the fine arts 
cannot be forced upon a people. Nor should, in my opinion, 
the common schools be overloaded with a multitude of subjects, 



36 CAKI, SCHTTHZ' ADDRESS. 

•which coiikl not be taught well without infringing upon the 
time necessary for elementary instrnction But in all educa- 
tional institutes of a higher order, the development of the ideal 
nature of man should be a principal object. It is often asserted 
that the study of classical languages and literature, and the 
cultivation of the fine arts waste the time of the student without 
fitting him for practical life. And, indeed, if these disciplines 
V ere intended for no other purpose than to enable a m; n to 
parade a number of Latin and Greek quotations, on occasions of 
state, as I might have done to-night, if I did not respect my 
audience too much, then the despisers of the classics would be 
right enough. But the influence of classical studies on the 
mind reaches beyond mere information. They lead us irresisti- 
bly to an ideal view of things and men. In the literature of 
antiquity man is magnified above his natural dimensions. We 
see him mostly divested of the common cares of life and occu- 
pied with great things only, whether absorbed in meditative 
contemplation or active in the great affairs of state. The misty 
distance which separates us from him, like an airy vision, lends 
grandeur to all his motions and attitudes ; and this spectacle of 
human life on the grandest scale transports us above the com- 
mon level of every-day sentiments. This is not all. Classical 
literature excels all other in the harmonious chastity of form. 
In a democratic country like this, form is often neglected with- 
out necessity, and people are apt to forget what influence the 
beauty of form exercises upon the mind. It imparts to us a 
sensitiveness of feeling which often, almost imperceptibly, de- 
termines the current of our thoughts. A man will often shrink 
from a coarse idea because he would shrink from a coarse ex- 
pression. And thus it may be said that classical studies not 
only elevate our minds, but enoble our aspirations and chasten 
our feelings. Such ought to be one of the principal objects of 
College education. 

Nor will, in a democratic country, its effects be confined to 
those who have enjoyed its immediate benefits. Where men 
live in a state of equality they will educate each other by mutual 
influence. As a classical and asthetic education gives tone to 
the mind, and even to the character of a man, so great a nuirir 



CAKL SCHTTKZ ADDKESS. 37 

bcr of men SO educated will give tone to society, and what 
compaiatively few have acqtiired by individual effnts will, in 
multiplied form, be transmitted to many by dady social inter- 
course. For it is the instinctive desire of man to improve him- 
self, and he will take his models above and not below his level. 
In this manner a higher order of education will become a com- 
mon good, and its enobling and refining influence will gradually 
pervade all classes of society. 

It is, besides, a fortunate circumstance, that rapid progress is 
made, not in the sciences alone, but also in the facility of teach- 
ing and of acquiring them. And in this respect, I think, great I / 
service will be doue by one of the component elements of the// 
American nationality : I mean the German. I say this, perhaps,',' 
not without a slight feeling of national pride, but I really think 
I am not indulging in an amiable delusion. The Germans have 
not only a taste for scientific and literary pursuits, but, what is 
more, they have a scientific conscience. They are earnest in 
their opinions and indefatigable in inqury. The German will 
seldom stop in his investigations before he has arrived at what 
he firmly believes to be the truth ; aud if you find a German 
who teaches something which he does not know himself, you 
may be sure that he has lost the true characteristics of his na- 
tionality. The admixture of the German element to the Ameri- 
can mind wi'xh in so lar, have a salutary efi'ect on our methods 
of acquiring kirowledge, as it will moderate the hasty and inor- 
dinate desire to aii'ive at the results ©f science without having- 
laid the foundations deep and firm. 

I regret very much to leave the subject of American civiliza- 
tion without having called your attention to several of its dis- 
tinguishing features. In order to do it full justice, I would 
have had to speak of American literature — of the newspaper 
press — of the cosmopolitan ctiaracter of the English language, 
and of its peculiar adaptation to the popularization of science 
and general ideas — of the influence of the cultivation of the fine 
arts on social pleasures and enjoyments — on the development of 
customs and manners, &c ; but it would be impossible to crowd 
such a multitude of topics into the limited space of a single 
Address. I must confine myself to a last isummary rem^iK. 



38 CARL SCHTTRZ' ADDRESS. 

As it is the spirit of our political institutions to recognize ill 
all men equal rights, so it is the tendency of American civiliza 
tion to fit all men for the equal enjoyment of those rights. 
places the means of education within the reach of all ; it stripjj 
even science of its aristocratic exclusiveness, and makes it | 
democratic institution. It unites the diiferent component elejj 
ments of the American nationality, and enlists the peculia^ 
forces of each in the service of general progress. It guarantee! 
free development to individuality, and receives in return the 
contribution of individual talent to the advancement of societyi 
By a general diffusion of its benefits it tends to equalize society} 
not by degrading the superior few, but by elevating the inferioi 
million. Of the cosmopolitan nation organised in the Ilepubli(| 
.. of equal rights, it is to make the representative people of thd 
\ modern age. These are my ideas of Americanism in respect td 
civilization. 



CONCLUSION. 

I am arrived at the close of my remarks. Nobody feels more 
strongly than myself how incomplete they are, and how little 
my abiliies were sufficient to master the comprehensive task 
But move forcibly than by other doubts was my mind struck b} 
the question : how will these ideas compare with reality ? How 
will you reconcile to them the corruption which gangrenes oui 
political life ; the low, the disgustingly low standard of politica 
morals : the narrowness of views, which tries to undermine the 
general enjoyment of equal rights ; the perversion of fundamen- 
tal doctrines, which is clad with official honors : the dull indiffer- 
ence of the people at public and private dishonesty : the loose 
principles upon which our business intercourse is conducted : 
the brutality and coarseness of feeling, which often disgraces 
our society even in representative circles ? To this question ] 
have but one answer : — Although we may not be able to read 
the ideals, which stand before our mental vision, this ought 
not to deter us from moving in their direction. Ideals are like 
stars, you will not succeed to touch them with your hands, 
But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose 



CAET, SCIIURZ' ADDRESS, 89 

em as your guides, and follow them wiicre they may lead ymi. 
I'iiere are men callintz: themselves practical par excellence, who 
i eer at everything that rises above the common level of 
yery-day notions. Priding themselves upon the small and not 
iways very glorious successess of their material pursuits, they 
3at with contempt all ideal views, that address themselves to 
[e nobler instincts of human nature. 

tg These are the worshippers of facts, who avail themselves of 
lyings as they are to their personal advantage, and never con- 
der things as to what they ought to be. They acquiesce in 
^erything thai is, because it stands there with the brutal force 
, reality. They concede even to vice and the most debased 
.alings the rig/ti to exist, because they do exist. Such men 
ive a dangerous influence upon society. Successful in the 
,rrow sphere of material occupations, they often appear wise, 
lien they are only sly, and prudent, when they are only small, 
aey often succeeded in palming off for the true wisdom of life 
tiat is only the mean shrewdness of selfishness : wielding the 
rmidable weapon of ridicule, their influence upon young 
iarts and minds is especially disastrous ; for many a generous 
.ipulse has been stifled by a sneer, and the contemptuous 
iiile of such a practical man has been the death of many a 
.)ble aspiration. 

When such men succeeded in determining the current of 
jiblic opinion, they will soon demoralize the principles, lower 
,e feelings, and emasculate the ambition of the people. Inca- 
j,ble of grasping broad and generous ideas, they will view every 
ing from the stand-point of immediate expediency : unable to 
,mprehend great ends, they will endeavor to reduce even the 
• stinies of a nation to the small dimensions of a mercantile 
iter prise. 

This is one of the principal dangers that threaten the develop- 
ent of true Americanism. And it is in this respect that I will 
y a last word to those young men, who are here arming their 
inds for the struggles of coming days. 

In practical life you will often find the ideals of your hearts 

so clashing a contrast with reality, that you will be obliged 

I, give up either your nobler instincts and aspirations, or an 



40 CAKL SCIIURZ' ADDBESS. 

immediate practical success. In such moments, which may- 
prove to be the turning points of your lives, I entreat you to 
remember, that in all ages and in all countries, those men who 
preserved intact, and undefiled in their hearts the ideals built up 
in the glowing dreams of a pure and youthful imagination, have 
achieved more for humanity than the whole host of those, who 
shaped their principles and their aspirations according to the 
opportunities of the day and the changing current of popular 
notions. Keep alive in your hearts, and be never ashamed of 
that noble ambition which rises above the dusty level of the 
corrupt sentiments of every-day life. Ambition is a vice only 
when it is selfish and small. Above all, nourish within your- 
self the sacred fire of that national ambition, which teaches 
you that to be a true American means nothing but to be a 
true Man, 



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